Microsoft : Windows 10 to Miss Mid-2018 Target of 1bn Installs

Microsoftis backing off its timeline for getting one billion devices running Windows 10, the latest casualty of the company’s sharply curtailed ambitions in the smartphone world.

The Redmond company last year set a goal of reaching one billion devices running the new operating system by mid-2018.

Here’s what Microsoft spokesperson told-

“Windows 10 is off to the hottest start in history with over 350Mn monthly active devices, with record customer satisfaction and engagement. We’re pleased with our progress to date, but due to the focusing of our phone hardware business, it will take longer than FY18 for us to reach our goal of 1 billion monthly active devices. In the year ahead, we are excited about usage growth coming from commercial deployments and new devices – and increasing customer delight with Windows.”

When Terry Myerson, who leads Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group, announced the one billion target, the company had just wrapped up a year in which it sold about 34 million Windows smartphones.

Since then, Microsoft has all but eliminated the smartphone hardware unit it acquired from Nokia in 2014, taking about $10 billion in writedowns and restructuring costs, laying off thousands of employees, and shuttering or selling factories worldwide. The company’s smartphone sales totalled just 2.3 million in the first three months of 2016.

“It’s hard to know what exactly they were counting on,” said Steve Kleynhans, an analyst with Gartner. “At the time, they did have some pretty high expectations around Windows Phone.”

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